PHILLIP NKOSI, Nelspruit | Monday
MPUMALANGA is housing the poorest of its poor in tiny, dangerously constructed houses that have already cost the taxpayer R30m – and is preparing to pay dodgy developers an additional R21m despite warnings that the houses have been deliberately built with cheap sub-standard materials.
Many of the 2_923 houses don’t have foundations and leak so badly that they are a danger to their inhabitants. Even houses built by one of South Africa’s largest construction companies, Condev, are not up to SABS standards.
Provincial Auditor-General Douglas Maphiri slams the projects in a scathing 30-page report released this week, charging that no-one had bothered connecting water or sewerage to the houses even though residents were charged for the services.
Not a single one of the houses in Breyten, Amersfoort, Amsterdam and Piet Retief are built to the required minimum size and many are constructed from hollow-core bricks that absorb water and are not approved by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS).
Maphiri also said that roofs leaked, no foundations had been laid, and finishings in the houses were ‘brittle’.
“The buildings are shabby, there are no doors on toilets or bathrooms and plaster work is unfinished,” he said.
Mpumalanga’s housing department said it was aware of Maphiri’s criticisms but had yet to receive any complaints from residents and would therefore pay the developers Golden Nest and Condev an outstanding R21m.
Golden Nest built 500 of the dodgy houses and are expected to finish in May when they will receive their final R7m payout. A previous Golden Nest housing project in Amersfoort, which cost government R16m for 1 000 low cost houses, was dogged by leaky roofs and non-functional sewer and water network.
A sewerage network is also standing idle because Golden Nest had neglected to connect sewerage pipes and pumps for the oxidation dams.
Maphiri said Condev had built 703 units in Amsterdam for R14m but only the first 74 houses met contractual requirements. The rest of the houses were smaller than specified but government was charged the same amount for them.
Maphiri also criticised Condev’s earlier project in Piet Retief, where 85mm hollow cement blocks were crumbling after absorbing water every time it rained. The construction techniques did not adhere to accepted building regulations or SABS standards, he added.
Housing department spokesman Arthur Ndlovu acknowledged the criticisms but insisted that residents appeared happy with their new houses and declined to comment further. – African Eye News Service